What is a Christian

[Xiahou]

This was my first idea too, but what is 'the Christ' ? Jesus=God is ehavily disputed by some, Jesus=Messiah is commonly accepted amongst christian, yet I do now some people who wouldn't subscribe to that. I also know people who refer to themselves as christians who don't believe the Jesus of the Bible is the historical Jesus. Who am I to say they can't call themselves christians ? How is anyone able to do that ?

I would put forth that acknowledging Jesus as the Christ would have to also acknowledge at some level his divine nature. I think there's an important distinction in "the Christ" as opposed to the literal definition of "christ". As such, I would not call anyone who denies Christ's divinity a Christian- I can't control what they want to call themselves though.

Seriously, if you're calling yourself Christian but don't think Jesus was divine, what are you saying? You believe he was covered in oil? The meaning of the Christian Christ is much more than the literal meaning of it's Greek root.

[doc_bean]

Seriously, if you're calling yourself Christian but don't think Jesus was divine, what are you saying? You believe he was covered in oil? The meaning of the Christian Christ is much more than the literal meaning of it's Greek root.

Some people believe Jesus was a prophet, but not the Messiah. Some people believe Jesus was a spirtual leader, like Buddha, not a god but an enlightened human who educated us and shown us 'the way'.

Especially with catholics there's a huge group of non-believers (or partial believers) who go to mass for the sake of tradition or 'community spirit' or because they just find it enlightening (on an intellectual level).

[CountArach]

I will always apply the term Christian to one who believes that Christ is their saviour.

[Ignoramus]

A Christian is a person who:

- acknowledges themselves to be a sinner and that the only way of salvation is by confessing that they are a sinner to God, surrending their life to Jesus, and trusting God for their forgiveness.
- believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
- believes that Bible is the infallable word of God.
- believes that Jesus died on the cross for their sins.
- believes that Jesus rose again from the dead.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

A Christian is a person who:

- acknowledges themselves to be a sinner and that the only way of salvation is by confessing that they are a sinner to God, surrending their life to Jesus, and trusting God for their forgiveness.
- believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
- believes that Bible is the infallable word of God.
- believes that Jesus died on the cross for their sins.
- believes that Jesus rose again from the dead.

I'm afraid you're wrong.

A Christian is quite simply someone who believes Jesus was The Christ (The Anointed One) otherwise known as the Messiah, the profecied king of the Jews.

A follower of Jesus' teachings is not a Christian, nor is someone who believes he was the Son of God unless they also believe he was the Messiah.

Several Christian sects refused to accept Jesus as divine and several others refused to accept him as mortal. They're still Christians because they believe he was the Messiah.

In fact, Muslims are are also, strictly speaking, Christians because they acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah.